Berlin Blockade and Airlift Causes and Consequences

The Berlin Blockade and Airlift began on the 23rd of June 1948 and ended on the 12th of May 1949. It was the first major conflict to occur during the Cold War between USA and the USSR. During this conflict Western Berlin who was under the control of the Western Allies was blocked off from the West Germany by the USSR. USA decided to airlift goods between West Berlin and West Germany. The causes of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift we the Yalta Conference, the American policy of containment and the growing mistrust and tension between the USA and the USSR. The consequences of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift were the major disruption to the everyday life of the people living in West Berlin, NATO and Warsaw Pact created and the further decline in the relationship between USA and the USSR.

One cause of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift was the Yalta Conference. The Yalta Conference was a conference held by the ‘Big Three’- USA, Britain and the USSR. It was held in Yalta (USSR) in February 1945. This conference was to decide the future of Europe. They came to the decision that Germany would be divided into four separate zones. One for each of USA, Britain, USSR and France. Berlin was to be separated in a similar way. The Iron Curtain was also established. This was a barrier between Eastern and Western Europe. Communist East and Non-Communist West. It was decided that there would be free elections for Eastern Europe but that agreement was not kept as one by one communist parties were voted into power. Also the allies agreed that the Soviet Union would receive a quarter of the industrial goods made in the Western zones in return for food and coal from the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union did not send food and coal in return. Therefore the Yalta Conference can be seen as a cause of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift.

Another cause of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift was the American policy of containment. Containment is the idea of stopping the spread of communism around...